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Do you Categorize VN Recommendations?


Zalor

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What I mean more specifically is whether you have VNs that you would recommend to somebody who falls under a particular category. For instance I usually organize my VN recommendations under three categories of people I could potentially be speaking with: 1) Somebody completely ignorant of weeb stuff, 2) Somebody familiar with anime, manga and/or Japanese video games, 3) Somebody who is already exposed to VNs looking to try new ones out.

More specifically I always find myself recommending people who have minimal contact with weeb stuff Narcissu since firstly it doesn't have an overtly anime-ish style in comparison to most VNs, I consider it to be quite good, and its short as well as free. It seems to be the most accessible VN I could recommend to somebody.

But then I also have a VN like Suba Hibi which is among my all time favorite, but I struggle to recommend it even to the 3rd category of people because of how difficult it can to be to get through to the finish. 

Inevitably most of my recommendations are best suited for people who fall under categories 2 or 3.

So I guess I'm asking whether anyone else uses a similar system when recommending VNs, and if so do you mind sharing what system you use and which VNs you recommend for the different categories? 

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I don't have an excel-sheet or anything like that where I stricty categorize every VN I read, but I sometimes do think about who I would recommend a title to. I don't really have strict categories, but there are a few titles you could bunch together. For example the "gateway drugs" are VNs that you can get into easily without any prior knowledge, usually with some broader mainstream appeal (in VN terms) and gameplay, like Danganronpa, Ace Attorney or Zero Escape. You could also put "mocking" titles that only require minimal previous knowledge of the genre to enjoy in there too, like Hatoful Boyfriend, DDLC or Lily's Night Off. For someone feeling a little more adventurous I would also add stuff like Ladykiller in a Bind, VA11-HALL-A, Raging Loop, 428 or Steins;Gate, depending on their taste in other media. What all these titles have in common is they are not eroge, aren't heavy on the tropes that make VNs feel toxic to outsiders and are generally rather accessible when it comes to their general mechanics.

As for SubaHibi, I'd put it on my acquired taste stack, together with something like The Silver Case (and to a lesser degree Saya no Uta, Kara no Shoujo or Umineko). VNs I wouldn't recommend even to most VN veterans, but might appeal to someone who likes Lars von Trier's movies or Serial Experiments Lain (in the Case of The Silver Case), even if they haven't had any prior exposure to VNs.

Other than that I usually go on a case by case basis. To pick one example, I would recommend Chaos;Child to people who already read a few VNs but also like stuff like Man of Steel, because I hate both for very similar reasons, and I assume this also works the other way round.

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16 hours ago, alpacaman said:

As for SubaHibi, I'd put it on my acquired taste stack, together with something like The Silver Case (and to a lesser degree Saya no Uta, Kara no Shoujo or Umineko). VNs I wouldn't recommend even to most VN veterans, but might appeal to someone who likes Lars von Trier's movies or Serial Experiments Lain (in the Case of The Silver Case), even if they haven't had any prior exposure to VNs.

You just reminded me that I need to read the Silver Case. I heard good things about it before, but never heard it compared to Serial Experiments Lain, which is one of my favorite anime. When I have the time I'll have to check it out (but I'm midway through Umineko right now so it might take a while lol) 

 

18 hours ago, Zakamutt said:

I would try to rec true remembrance to a normie I guess

I agree, I think True Remembrance is another good VN for people unexposed to the medium. Especially if they want something more on the comfy side.

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5 hours ago, Zalor said:

You just reminded me that I need to read the Silver Case. I heard good things about it before, but never heard it compared to Serial Experiments Lain, which is one of my favorite anime. When I have the time I'll have to check it out (but I'm midway through Umineko right now so it might take a while lol) 

They both to some degree share this kind of late 90s Japan postmodernist asthetic and experimentation with storytelling techniques, there even is at least some overlap in themes. So I'm kind of surprised no one ever makes this comparison. But maybe just too few people know both, as they are rather niche even in their respective genres.

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